A year ago, on the verge of shelter in place, country singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash offered an encouraging reminder to the worldâs artists, writers, musicians and other creatives: that âwhen Shakespeare was quarantined because of the plague, he wrote King Lear.â
Looking back now, things didnât work out quite so well for most artists in todayâs pandemic. With jobs lost, income evaporated and safety nets thinner than ever, the Bay Areaâs arts sector was lucky to simply hang on (let alone write a 350-page tragedy).
One year into shelter in place, we asked Bay Area artists how the pandemic has affected their creative practice. Several themes emerged: loss of work, loss of inspiration, pivoting to streaming, tackling side hustles and mental health challenges. At the same time, some were able to take advantage of the new pace of life and continued to create.
Hear from them belowâand if youâre an artist who wants to join the conversation, let us know here.
(Illustration by Vida Kuang)
Losing Inspiration to Create
For many artists we talked to, the dearth of outside stimulus and the gloppy elasticity of time has meant a severe loss of inspiration. Add in guilty feelings from being unproductive, and creative struggles were very, very common.âGabe Meline
Chris Black, San Francisco choreographer
âYou know, dance is such a social endeavor. Especially how Iâve made work over the years, itâs just usually very collaborative. And the isolation and the space and combination kind of just made it harder and harder to bother, honestly, or to focus on it, or feel like I was getting anything out of it. … I think the Trump years were kind of hard on me in that department as well, at times. Just with the juggernaut of all of it, my creativity definitely went up and down a lot, even before this. Itâs just been harder and harder to focus.
âItâs interesting, before the pandemic, I had this sort of studio practice that was very geared towards still imagery and video. And even that outlet (livestreaming or Zoom), Iâve just not been interested in. Thereâs something about the idea of making something only for the screen, when I canât do the other thing that I like so much to doâwhich is be in a room with people, whether itâs other dancers and/or audienceâand itâs just not in the least bit appealing. Itâs been really hard for me to watch things, too. Iâve got friends and colleagues whoâve done things online, and even when I want to be supportive, itâs been hard to make myself attend some of those events because itâs kind of heartbreaking.â
Tanya Rey, Oakland writer and author
âI just feel like somehow maybe things just take longer right now. I donât know about you, but Iâm really tired. And it seems like things just seem to take longer than I think theyâre going to take, and eat up my day in this way that I just donât anticipate. And so I canât necessarily like make time for it, because there is no schedule, you know?
âOn a day-to-day basis, Iâm constantly frustrated that Iâm not writing enough … and the harder I am on myself as an artist, that doesnât breed good grounds for productivity, and it doesnât breed the best creative self that I know that I can access. So I know that in order to actually make something worthwhile and to enjoy that process, I canât be too hard on myself. Itâs only going to take me twice as long.
âSo itâs been really challenging. I think that we are experiencing a collective grief. And within that grief, thereâs our own personal grieving. I know Iâve lost people, and certain relationships have been strained by this time and distance, and all of that compounds itself. And so I have certainly have had days where I just want to be on the couch or in bed.â
(Illustration by Vida Kuang)
A Surprisingly Productive Time
While many artists found their creative energies tapped out this year, for some, the new speed of lifeâone without concerts, tours, commutes and everyday distractionsâallowed them to give more space to their practices, and let their work grow in unexpected ways. With little control over anything else in 2020, these artists relished the opportunity to reflect more deeply on their artâand their work flourished as a result.âSarah Hotchkiss
EkiâShola, Santa Rosa musician, physician and founder of UNMUTE magazine
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âI released the album [Essential], and the challenge is, âOkay I have this album, now what? How do I get it out there?â … But for better or worse, weâre all plugged in more now. So I just went on a virtual tour. And the beauty of it was that I was able to play for audiences in Japan and the UK and across the country all from my music studio. That was wonderful. 2020 was actually probably one of the more prolific years for me in terms of the opportunities.
âIt forced me to think outside the box a bit more. If I were to have toured it would have been to music venues. But this time, I was able to really meld the three things Iâve always wanted to do, which is music, mindfulness and wellness. … I ended up being able to do performance, share my story, teach a mindfulness tool and talk about healthâall in one hour. And I did that for health care organizations, for colleges, for all different kinds of groups.â
Janice Lee Lazaro, San Leandro singer/songwriter
âNow that I no longer have to commute and am spending more time at home, Iâve been dedicating my extra time to writing music and releasing my original songs. With that being said, it has been a great experience to finally be able to devote more time to music, making me feel happier, productive and fulfilled.
âThe biggest challenge has been learning how to pivot fully remote. I learned to adapt, however, it was a bit of an adjustment to rely on wifi to keep up with Zoom communications with folks. Maintaining relationships has been a huge shift for me to adjust to.â
Lorene Anderson, Oakland visual artist
âI had been scheduled for a solo show that was supposed to open last fall. So I was working really hard, but when the shutdown happened, everything kind of came to a screeching halt. … After a few days, I decided I wanted to keep the thread of my regular studio practice. I go five days a week, and I was lucky that it was still accessibleâI have friends whose buildings were locked.
Lorene Anderson, ‘Cleaving Grain,’ 2020; acrylic on panel, 18 x 24 inches. (Courtesy the artist)
âI felt really compelled to look over the past 30 years of my old work. I donât know if itâs that feeling of mortality and âWhatâs going to happen to all of us?â but elements of old work have started creeping into my current work. … Sometimes I feel like Iâm just hurtling through my life and studio practice, and to stop and make thoughtful decisions and reflections was something I hadnât done in a long time, if ever. …
âI can be very self-deprecating and doubtful about stuff and maybe not so brave and I think [the pandemic] has made me get rid of that BS, and I feel braver, in a way, about my own work.â
(Illustration by Vida Kuang)
Year of the Pivot
Although it hasnât been easy by any means, some artists have used their time in the pandemic to successfully change gears. Out of necessity, musicians, writers and other performers have learned new skills and become full-on media production houses, filming, editing, recording and organizing online collaborators from their communities and even all over the world. The road has been bumpy, but these evolutions have opened new avenues and expanded their creative practices.âNastia Voynovskaya
Sahba Aminikia, San Francisco classical musician, composer and founder of the Flying Carpet Festival
â2020 has been one of the busiest years for me. I worked on seven different projects, but each of them ended up being becoming basically a YouTube or Facebook video.
âIn the context of my festival Flying Carpet, we work with 5,000, 6,000 children [in Turkey] every year. And this year, weâve been able to reach out to maybe 200 children through online means, which brings a lot of issues because theyâre in an area where data is expensive. … This year, we are planning on creating a home edition of this online Carpet Festival and reaching out to embassies and organizations for the funds to create a magical box that we can send to children in that region. And each box would include 10 to 12 modules created by different artists.
âOne of the things I learned is that my work has always been in the line of human human rights work.
âI think artists have an essential job in unifying the nation and unifying the people in a real sense, instead of just unifying your own allies or people who think like you. I think itâs the time for artists to reach out to rural areas, to areas where entertainment existsâmaybe even good lifestyle exists, privileged lifestyleâbut culture does not exist. And itâs a very good time to separate culture from entertainment because culture definitely has an educational aspect to it.â
Autumn Allee, Oakland opera singer, voice coach and creative producer of Exquisite Corpse Projects
âI had been considering doing a production company for a while, even before the pandemic. The concept was bringing together of artists from completely different mediums to create theater, which is my medium. And so I have a friend whoâs a ceramicist. I have a friend whoâs a playwright, a friend who is a classical music composer, that kind of thing. Completely different mindsets, completely different artists, bringing them together and create something completely unique.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMYnPlBr3N/
âOnce the pandemic happened, I had a couple of goals for what I wanted for the project. I didnât want to waste artistsâ time and I wanted to pay them something. So I came up with an idea to create these short one-minute videos. And each artist watched and responded to another artistâs video, so it creates this chain of videos, each by a different artist taking something from the previous video and transforming it through their own lens and through their own medium, et cetera. Then we presented it and we we got funds through donations, essentially. And then we were able to pay our artists a stipend for the work that they did.â
Bronwyn Emery, Alameda writer, writing and creativity coach
âMy personal creative process has taken a backseat because my practice has expanded to meet the needs of people who canât get together anymore. And writing in particular is an isolated, isolating experience. You write by yourself. But a lot of people need accountability; they thrive in a group setting that has gives them inspiration and motivation. The shelter in place, the pandemic and the existential dread of the past few years has impacted creativity, so coming together in groups has been more important and has had a greater impact. So I spend a lot more time establishing online write-alongs and places to share what youâve written that day, places to share what youâve been working on and polishing for a month or two. Places where people can get together and talk about the writing process, different workshops. Itâs really kind of taken over. Now Iâm at the point where I need to coach myself on where do I find my place to be creative?â
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